When We Last Checked In . . .

We were walking about in mid-December over nine months ago relishing the cold air and gorgeous snowfall on our Ashe County NC property. The forecast weather wouldn’t be the coldest we’d endured but it was cool enough. Jim found a comfortable pair of leather mitts with wool liners to allow his fingers to stay a little warm when walking or working outdoors here.

There’s little we like better than enjoying time and activities on our little Blue Ridge Mountain place. What’s not to love about frequent walks in quiet woods, dark skies displaying brilliant constellations and occasional satellites speeding across, cooling breezes wafting about us, and having relative freedom from unwanted interruptions?

Opportunities to spend time with family, commitments we’ve made to the Wally Byam Airstream Club, and our penchant for travel offer welcome diversion from our hermitage on the hill. Our grandchildren are all within a day’s drive, are fun to visit and have room for us in their little lives. Our volunteer work for the Club was still peaking when last we posted here. It generally allowed flexibility of location as long as we maintained connectivity and contact. And we still love the feel of the road as we pull our travel trailer (and, incidentally, our rolling home) down the road.

Eleven years in our house still is 188 square feet and on wheels. It’s a just right size for us alone, whether encamped or touring. We previously had a 22′ Airstream but upon deciding we wanted to live full-time on the road decided the 25′ CCD International by Airstream was a better fit for us. Our homework and Airstream’s product both were spot on. The Airstream keeps us dry and comfortable. It’s perfectly cozy. We have ample storage for our needs

Whoops! A fawn just walked by, not 30 feet from our door, grazing his way up the hill. Another, larger deer is ambling up the same walk line. Then a third, another small deer walks into the scene. A few days ago we watched eight or nine turkeys scratching and pecking along in the dirt along our gravel drive forty feet from the Airstream. Our neighbor says the turkeys and deer don’t see us as a threat. Fine with us, we appreciate wildlife sharing their space with us.

Seven years into full-timing in our Airstream 25′ trailer we were enchanted by this gorgeous property. We’ve installed a road, underground electric, well, and septic system since. Increasingly we find ourselves regarding the property as a stewardship we enjoy. This wasn’t on our radar, nor on our wish list. Webster says stewardship includes, “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care”. We’ve become managers, however inept, of our property.

Our volunteerism with the Club reduced radically June 30 this year. Between us we spent forty hours weekly last year on Club business. Deb worked very closely last year with Jim, the Club’s manager, and the Rally volunteer manager on the Salem Rally. Deb continues to help on the Rally Committee as they develop next year’s International Rally in Doswell Virginia. Jim graduated to International Past President and serves this last year as a member of the Club’s Executive Board. This is a radically less demanding position that still allows assisting the other Board members and Committees. We’re both engaged but enjoying more time for ourselves.

We’re still full-time in our 25′ Airstream and loving it. Living in a small space, minimizing what we purchase, maintaining what we need, storing very little, all suit us well. We continue to enjoy full-timing even as it morphs for us. We’ll attend four rallies with the Wally Byam Airstream Club’s local chapters in October and November, plan to spend lots of time with family, and we find our travels bucket list is again growing.

Plans are exciting. There are still so many places we want to visit and we have so much time. When we’re not rolling we’re at our mountain camp relaxing. Oh, and thinning weak trees, watching for wildlife, maintaining the creek banks, improving trails and walking a lot.

Thanks for your “pot-stirring”, getting us back onto the dreamstreamr odyssey.

I listened in both hours this morning. Band’s been pretty shaggy and Dwight TJT will apparently never hear me. Spending more time up here motivates me to try different antennae for the amateur radio. I’ve an Alpha Delta 3-band hung essentially north-south, at 10 degrees, and a g5rvJr at 90 degrees to the AD antenna. I’m going to hang a long dipole beaming N-S and the g5rvJr to the East-West. If those don’t help enough I’ll be among the zillions awaiting propagation changes, I guess. Thanks for kind response.

Hi D & L, great to hear you. How’d you like the pix? The deer picture really happened while I was typing the post. The turkeys pic was from earlier, captured by one of our game cameras. Last night while we were relaxing under our awning we heard a turkey wing up to roost in a nearby tall tree. Then they were quietly chattering awhile.